Dozens of questions on climate and energy policies go unanswered by Morrison

Dozens of questions relating to the Morrison government’s climate change and energy policies, taken “on notice” by department officials during senate estimates hearings, have yet to receive answers, despite now being more than six weeks overdue.

The questions were asked during the last round of Senate estimates held in October last year, in the weeks leading up to the Morrison government’s announcement of its net zero emissions target, the release of its so called “plan” and the attendance of Morrison and Angus Taylor’s at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow.

The hearings also queried the management of the federal government-owned Snowy Hydro around its decision to spend $600 million on the construction of the controversial Kurri Kurri gas generator.

During estimates hearings, senators from all political parties can pose questions to government ministers and senior public servants about their portfolio responsibilities. They serve as one of the federal parliament’s more powerful transparency and accountability measures.

Ministers and officials have the option of taking questions posed to them “on notice”, a process that provides them time to seek additional information and undertake research so that an accurate and detailed written answer to the question may be provided at a later date.

Questions’ taken on notice’ during those hearings had a due date for their written response to be provided by 10 December.

Of the questions asked by the Environment and Communications committee relating to the Morrison government’s climate and energy policies, 39 questions were taken ‘on notice’.

As of late January – more than six weeks after the date by which a response was due – just six of these questions have received published answers.

Many of the now overdue questions relate to the Morrison government’s climate policies, including its plans to open up clean energy funding bodies like ARENA and the CEFC to carbon capture and storage projects, and its negotiations with the Nationals over what may or may not be included in their net zero plan.

For example, Labor senator Jenny McAllister asked department officials for details about whether the department had been involved in providing advice to the Morrison government or the Nationals Party about their negotiations late last year to adopt a net zero emissions target for 2050.

Industry department secretary, David Fredericks, said that he would need to take the question ‘on notice’ so that an answer could be prepared, but it appears that no such answer has been made available by the deadline.

Likewise, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young asked department officials when the Morrison government had decided to announce a projection of Australia’s emissions for 2030, rather than a formal emissions reduction target, as Australia’s official ‘Nationally Determined Contribution’ at the COP26 climate talks.

Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja, who represented Angus Taylor during the senate estimates hearings, indicated that he would also take the question on notice. An answer to that question has also yet to be published.

Even the government’s own ranks appear to be having trouble getting answers, with former resources minister Matt Canavan’s questions about the department’s claims of a ‘public interest immunity’ that prevented the release of government-commissioned emissions modelling going unanswered.

Of the handful of questions receiving answers, the department confirmed that it had “not been asked to provide advice or given advice concerning a $250 billion loan facility for Australian mining projects”, referring to the controversial suggestion of Canavan and resources minister Keith Pitt made during negotiations around the Nationals’ support for a net zero target.

During the last round of Senate estimates, it was revealed the Morrison government was not able to release modelling underpinning its zero emissions target, because it had not finished writing the modelling at the time the target was announced, and that the government had splurged almost $13 million on the ‘making positive energy’ advertising campaign to promote its climate and energy policies to the Australian public.

The October hearings also heard that the Morrison government had commissioned BAEconomics, a firm run by economist Brian Fisher and who prepared widely criticised modelling used to attack the climate policies that Labor took to the 2019 federal election, to ‘verify’ the government’s modelling of its net zero target.

In response to questions from RenewEconomy, a spokesperson for the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources said “the responses to the Questions on Notice are being worked through and will be submitted when they are finalised.”